Anthony Myers explores the latest trends in upcycling and the circular economy, including one cocoa producer whose sustainable chocolate brand is making its mark in the private-label sector. This article first appeared in ESM’s January/February 2025 edition.
Luker Chocolate is on a mission to introduce premium, sustainable Colombian chocolate to consumers in the UK and Europe.
It will also lead the way in upcycling the cocoa pod, creating a new value stream for manufacturers and farmers.
In December 2023, the family-run business-for-business (B4B) brand acquired a majority stake in Slovakian Lyra Group, in a deal that strengthened Luker’s product capabilities and increased flexibility in logistics for European clients.
From its manufacturing and warehouse facilities in Europe and South America, it works with private-label brands in the UK and on the Continent to create premium, sustainable chocolate.
Paul Morris, Luker’s European sales manager, says that sustainability is still at the forefront of consumers’ minds.
He is noticing that they are looking beyond certifications such as Fairtrade and instead seeking out more information on the origin of their chocolate via QR codes on packaging.
He also mentions an increased importance on traceability as a result of regulation such as the EUDR.
“Twenty twenty-four [2024] has been the year of increased volatility and unprecedented price rises in the cocoa sector, leading to challenging trading conditions for many,” Morris observes.
“With our support and short value chain, brand owners and premium private-label clients can maintain supply stability and engage consumers more directly around provenance and sustainability.
“Our ‘co-creation’ approach allows our clients to adapt their offerings to meet evolving consumer expectations, building greater resilience across the sector.”
The company is already looking at alternatives to oat milk and was encouraged by the latest innovations at a tiger nut plant, during a limited trial.
Luker’s long-standing commitment to crafting at origin and using Fino de Aroma cocoa means that its short value chain equates to almost 90% of its cocoa being traceable at origin.
The beans are separated into EU Deforestation Regulation(EUDR-) and other regulatory-compliant cocoa at its vast warehousing operation in Colombia.
In its latest sustainability report, The Chocolate Dream, Luker explains that recycling alone isn’t enough.
Upcycling reimagines and reinvents what already exists, promoting the circular economy by making better use of its cocoa.
The report outlines that just 18% of the fruit is used to create chocolate products, with approximately 82% discarded as food waste or used as fertiliser on crops.
In 2023, Luker established a facility in its Bogotá chocolate factory to develop cocoa by-products, processing 90,000 cocoa pods to support business growth, expand its portfolio into new categories, and enhance the profitability of cocoa crops for farmers.
Innovative Initiatives
Other circular-economy initiatives allowing farmers to increase their income include a pilot programme that teaches farmers how to transform the husks into raw material, to create ‘cacaoboard’, an interior-design biomaterial.
The cocoa pulp that covers the beans was regarded as waste, but it is full of nutrients and vitamins, and can be marketed as a 100% natural fresh juice or concentrate.
This earns more income for the farmer and is a big win for the environment. Using supplying methods, Luker is trialling several upcycling innovations that it expects to launch on the market over the next 12 months.
“By paying for the upcycling of these ingredients, we can pay more to the farmer, and it’s all about using the different products in different ways,” says Julia Ocampo, VP of sustainability at Luker.
Responsible Innovation
Alessia Falsarone, author of The Impact Challenge: Reframing Sustainability for Businesses, says that micro-scale innovation accelerators are becoming go-to places for entrepreneurs to unlock desirable benefits.
‘These socio-technical networks challenge traditional corporate environments, encourage unlearning and questioning the openness of institutional functions in order to incite new possibilities within organisations,’ Falsarone writes.
She argues that responsible innovation challenges traditional corporate environments to create new possibilities in food and consumption.
Luker’s example is on a micro-scale, but it can act as an accelerator for consumers to feel good about the planet – and themselves.
The so-called ‘circular economy model’ is gaining traction for supermarkets and brands, with companies increasingly committed to reducing food waste throughout the supply chain.
Supermarkets have one of the most captive audiences in the retail sector, however, attempts to introduce a circular economy into stores and influence shoppers to think more about the environment have been mixed.
Helen Bird, head of material systems transformation at Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a UK charity, says the recycling of ‘soft’ plastic think stretchy plastic like yoghurt cartons or fruit punnets is something supermarkets are leading the way on.
“For something to be ‘recyclable’, it must be designed for recycling and collected, processed and remanufactured at scale,” she explains.
“Ahead of ‘soft’ plastic recycling directly from our homes – due before 2028 – supermarkets stepped up to provide collection points to fill this gap. While not perfect, these have acted as an important catalyst for crucial investment in UK recycling infrastructure and end markets, and instilled new habits in people to separate bags and wrapping for recycling.
“Much of this material is being recycled into products such as refuse sacks and street furniture, as well as new packaging, including Heinz Beanz ‘snap pots’, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Kingsmill 50/50, and Nestlé’s Kit Kat.”
Knowledge Gap
By now, most European consumers support the environment by reducing food waste, recycling and upcycling, prioritising sustainable packaging on goods, and using their cars less.
They also demand more from companies across the Continent to make good on their promises of sustainable packaging, protecting the environment, reducing carbon, and sourcing locally.
A recent study by Innova Market Insights, a Netherlands-based market research company, on shopping habits shows that European consumers have different priorities, but personal finances are a unifying factor in most countries.
The top personal concerns are housing, healthcare, pollution, wages, and the lack of affordable, healthy, nutritious food. Some circular-economy initiatives may look good in theory, but not in practice.
For example, chocolate brands that demonstrate a genuine commitment to sustainability can foster deeper customer loyalty and attract a broader customer base, particularly among younger consumers.
Still, is the business community responsible for offering practical guidelines and initiatives to help the circular economy develop?
Reuse Ecosystem
Loop is one scheme currently gaining traction in the United States, Japan and France. The scheme operates a global reverse supply chain, in that it collects used packaging from consumers and retailers, enables a deposit return scheme, sorts and stores it, and returns hygienically cleaned packaging to manufacturers for refill.
Loop is expanding its global presence by partnering with key retailers internationally. Earlier this year, French supermarket chain Monoprix introduced the Loop concept to five stores in the Paris region, offering a deposit offer exclusively composed of drinks like Evian and Badoit waters, Lorina lemonade, William Peel Scotch whisky, Club-Mate soft drinks, and Hecht & Bannier wines.
A spokesperson for Monoprix said that if the test is conclusive, other stores will follow quickly, boosting consumer awareness in France of the benefits of a circular supply chain.
Problems Ahead
In the UK, circular-economy initiatives have been met with mixed results.
In July, Asda announced that it was scrapping its trial of ‘refill aisles’, which included shopping basket staples from brands including PG Tips, Persil, Kellogg’s and Radox.
Independent Welsh chain Filco Supermarkets ended its in-store refillable packaging concept after two years, claiming that it was a ‘big waste of time and money’.
Lidl UK also ended a two-year pilot for reusable packaging for laundry detergent in August.
So, what’s the problem with the circular economy – and are we going around and around and getting nowhere?
Is it consumer apathy or bad implementation of the concept by the retail sector? When implemented successfully, circular models can drive both sustainability and business results.
Multinational food companies are aware that there is a long-term economic case for sustainability because consumers are prepared to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products.
“It’s a complex situation,” says WRAP’s Bird. “Too much packaging is made from different types of plastics that are difficult to recycle, and the end market is not stable.
“More transparency is needed, to assure people of what’s happening to the collected materials – but there is one thing for certain: if it doesn’t get placed in the recycling, it will not get recycled.”
